BYJU’S former employees looking to file NCLT plea for unpaid dues

A group of former employees of troubled edtech major BYJU’S is planning to drag the company to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to demand their dues from the company.

Nearly a group of 400 employees who were either terminated, resigned, or are still employed at Byju’s, all sharing a common issue have banded together to take on the the edtech major. Their grievance is that the company is yet to settle their dues, leaving many in financial distress.

A 24-year-old former employee who did not want to be identified is the brain behind bringing together employees past and present who are facing the same issue of non-payment of dues. He has created a WhatsApp group which quickly garnered a lot of traction.

The ex-employee decided to create a Google form where participants could briefly describe their issues, the amount owed to them, and the status of their employment at Byju’s.

• Inconsistent. Byju’s hasn’t paid PF money for months, show EPFO data

Total dues

In just days of the group being created, over 400 people filled out the form, and the total dues amounted to Rs 5.17 crore including both current and former employees; businessline has reviewed the data. However, this figure is only a fraction of the overall debts allegedly owed by Byju’s to its workforce.

Byju’s has laid off over 10,000 employees in the last two years and a large chunk of them are still waiting for their dues.

Now, the group of employees led by the former employee has appointed a lawyer and plans to knock on the doors of NCLT to demand their dues from Byju’s.

This development comes on the heels of turmoil for Byju’s when its investor board members have left too, and a group of investors have filed plea for ‘oppression and mismanagement’ at the NCLT, over its $200 million via rights issues, among others.

The NCLT has deferred the hearing of the ‘oppression and mismanagement plea’ filed against Byju’s by investors to June 6.

• Also read: Byju’s faces uphill sales battle during prime admission period

worsening woes

At least seven vendors also have sued Byju’s at NCLT to recover their dues. The company’s recently appointed CEO Arjun Mohan and CFO Ajay Goel have also stepped down. In the latest development, both Mohandas Pai and Rajnish Kumar who were advisors to the management have decided to step down after the completion of their one-year contract in June this year.

Meanwhile, Byju’s has also halted part of employee salaries for the past two months, since March, as it faces a paucity of funds.

Byju Raveendran though has been communicating sporadically with employees via email assuring them that the circumstances will be better in a few days once the company can use the funds from a recent rights issue. For some, these assurances were the reason they stayed with the organisation till now.

“It is unbelievable what went down so fast with Byju’s. How can a company valued at $22 billion one day, not be able to pay employee salaries the next?,” said a distressed employee speaking to businessline who did not want to be identified.

Another employee lamented had the company stopped giving fake assurances and told them about the company’s financial woes , they would have resigned and found new jobs.

“With the new academic year starting in April, no company will hire teachers. We have to sit idle for at least one to two months,” said an ex-employee. Byjus was yet to respond to a request from businessline for comments at the time of this story going to press.

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